Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

April 9, 2023

 Weekly Schedule of Services

UPCOMING BIBLE CONFERENCES

• May 5-7           Bethel Baptist Church                Spring Lake, NC
• May 19-21       Oley Grace Church                    Oley, PA
• June 30-July 2  Rescue Baptist Church               Rescue, CA
• July 7-9             Sovereign Grace Baptist Church  Ewing, NJ

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Proverbs 20:6: Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?

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“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept; for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead; for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor 15:20-22)

The figure is of the sheaf of firstfruits waved before the Lord before harvest (Lev 23:10, 11). The whole crop was holy by the consecration of the firstfruits.  Christ Jesus is the Firstfruits who sanctified his people by his one offering. (Heb 2:11; 10:10, 14; 13:12) By Christ’s consecration to God the whole crop of his elect have been made holy.  In the new birth, by the Holy Spirit of his Son, God our Father has made his saints meet to enter into the inheritance prepared for us before the foundation of the world and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. (Col 1:12-14).  Therefore, in Christ shall all his saints be resurrected from the dead to live with holy God forevermore.

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Isaiah 2:22  Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

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Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.—Psalm 119:49.

The Spirit that dwelt in Jesus dictated the truths concerning him; and the same Spirit testifies of Jesus in the hearts of his children. By the word we are favored with clear ideas, just conceptions, and encouraging views of the truths of grace and salvation: hence we have the firmest foundation, the strongest confidence, and fullest assurance to build our faith and hope upon: hence also we are emboldened to draw nigh to a throne of grace, to plead our case, present our distress, and claim, with humble boldness, a supply of all our need.

     When there is a death upon all comfortable sense and joyful feelings, when all things around us wear a gloomy aspect, when conscience within writes bitter things against us, the law works wrath, and his terrors make us afraid, and an insulting foe, to heighten distress and increase our sorrows, stands over us, with “there, there, so would I have it,” in such a season, O it is life from the dead to remember the infinitely transcendent love, victorious toils, triumphant conquests of Jesus over all things for us!

How joyful to read that all the promises center in him, and that they are infallibly sure and certain to all the seed—yea and Amen, to the glory of God the Father! How establishing to hear such gracious words from the mouth of Jehovah, “I, even I am he that blotteth out thy sins!”—Isa. 43:25.  How powerfully alluring, how sweetly attracting to the affections when love calls, “Put me in remembrance;” plead with me; thou shalt not call in vain; I will hear; I will answer thee!

     Thus love, thus grace descends to the heart; thus it speaks by the word: hence desires are kindled in the soul, blown into a flame, and ascend in fervent, earnest prayer and pleading to a faithful, promise-fulfilling God. Surely we can never enough prize God’s word, never sufficiently adore the Holy Spirit for the knowledge of Jesus by the word; and if the word of the Lord is our hope, we have eternal truth, everlasting love, infinite power, and unchangeable faithfulness engaged for us. “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.”—Prov. 30:5. 

–William Mason

While others boast of nature’s frames,
And ecstasies of joy,

May I still hope in God’s try’d word,
And thence my comforts draw.

Remember, Lord, thy word of grace,
On which my soul doth trust:

Fulfil thy promise freely made,
I plead it—thou art just.

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2 Corinthians 1:20: All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.  21: Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God.  God’s witnesses preach Christ as the complete salvation of God’s elect, unmoved by the winds of trial or pressures of men because we are not established by men but by God.  Men who waver, attributing some part of salvation to man, only prove the opposite.

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His Hands and Side

John 20:20

These poor, miserable disciples had forsaken the Lord Jesus in the hour of his greatest need. Peter had denied him three times and even swore that he never knew him. Oh, the guilt they felt upon their conscience for their sin; the shame and fear of it all had now overwhelmed them. They were hiding out in an upper room. All you could hear from them was mourning and weeping and groans — “They mourned and wept,” Mark says (Mark 16:10).

Now, in the midst of such felt misery, the resurrected Lord stands in their midst and says, “Peace be unto you.” Then He shows unto each of them the prints in his hands and the hole in his side. Then something amazing suddenly happened, “Then,” immediately upon seeing these scars, “Then were the disciples glad.” There is no doubt what brought this sudden change; they saw the scars in his hands and side. What was it about these scars that gave them such gladness? Well, many things no doubt, but, think of this; the scars told them that their sins had been atoned for; their sins had been punished, their sins had been put away.

Can you imagine such a thing as this, while Peter and the rest of the disciples were mourning over their sins; their sins had already been atoned for! And these scars were the proof of it! — “Our awful sin! The shame of what we have done! GONE! And here are the scars to prove it!”

How often you and I are so conscious of our sin. The thought of it weighs heavy upon our minds and often affects us in such a negative way. We hide out in our little upper rooms and mourn and weep and we are hardly fit to worship or serve or do anything. Here is our remedy. By the eye of faith upon the Word of God, get a sight of Jesus’ scars. Your sins have been punished to the fullest extent. They have already been atoned for just as surely as the sins of those disciples were. If God has punished them in his Son, why carry them any longer on your conscience? “These are written that you might believe” (John 20:31).

–Bruce Crabtree